MIAMI — Nearly three weeks after an unarmed teenager was killed in a small city north of Orlando, stirring an outcry, a few indisputable facts remain: the teenager, who was black, was carrying nothing but a bag of Skittles, some money and a can of iced tea when he was shot. The neighborhood crime watch volunteer who got out of his car and shot him is white and Hispanic. He has not been arrested and is claiming self-defense.

Beyond that, however, little is clear about the Feb. 26 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, 17.

As criticism of the police investigation mounts, so too do the calls for swift action in a case with heavy racial overtones. Protests grow larger each week, and lawyers for the family are now asking the Department of Justice to intervene. The case also brings into sharp focus Florida’s self-defense laws, which give people who feel threatened greater latitude in defending themselves than most states.

We all know the script, and yes, former Presidential candidate Al Sharpton is on his way.

Let's press on with what the Times presents as fact:

The police in of Sanford, where the shooting took place, are not revealing details of the investigation. Late Friday night, after weeks of pressure, the police played the 911 calls in the case for the family and gave copies to the news media. On the recordings, one shot, an apparent warning or miss, is heard, followed by a voice begging or pleading, and a cry. A second shot is then heard, and the pleading stops.

“It is so clear that this was a 17-year-old boy pleading for his life, and someone shot him in cold blood,” said Natalie Jackson, one of the Martin family lawyers.

Two shots! Well, can we make that "two shots?" with a BIG question mark? [UPDATE: In a follow-up story, the Times does just that.] From other sources it seems clear to me that the shooter, George Zimmerman, provoked the situation by leaving his car and following the teen. However, there seems to be a real question, other than in TimesLand, as to how many shots were fired.

An obvious puzzle is the woman caller's non-reaction to the first "gunshot" at 24 seconds, especially considering her clear "There's a gunshot" reaction to the shot heard at 41.

A possible explanation - the woman recognized the first sound as something else altogether - a door slamming, the phone being bumped against a wall, or whatever - and paid it no mind. The second shot we hear is the first shot fired.

Eventually, some news service (presumaby not the Times) will hire audio experts to study the tape. In the meantime, I have employed some free software and some free time to offer some free analysis (and you get what you pay for.) Here, using Audacity, are waveforms of the two gunshots.

First, the waveform around 24 seconds:

And next, the 41 second mark:

If one of those sounded louder on the tape, it might be because it was louder. That said, the woman seemed to be moving around inside her home, so the sound quality could have changed. However, the notion that the first "gunshot" was actually something else would explain her non-reaction and the other witness accounts.

Well - nobody working as a CSI needs to fear for their job based on my effort. However, I would welcome and encourage a serious effort to establish just what we are hearing on this tape.

[Police investigator] Serino said Trayvon's father, Tracy Martin, listened to all of the 911 calls in the case before the entire family convened at City Hall to listen Friday night. When asked if the voice on one, a male calling for help was his son, told Serino no.

Police lied Friday, Crump said, when they said Tracy Martin said the voice crying for help was not his son. What Tracy Martin told police, Crump said, was that "he couldn't tell, that it was too distorted."

The audio has since been cleaned up, and now Tracy Martin has no doubt but that the voice is his son, Crump said.

As to just how cleaned up these tapes are, who knows? Is a gunshot so distinctive that it could be cleaned away? And there is still her non-reaction to the first shot.

FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE... As a casual consumer of self defense articles, I infer that warning shots are not encouraged. In the case at hand, there was a 17 second lag between shots, which is an age in the course of a backyard scuffle.

Ok, maybe Zimmerman shot with intent twice and missed the first time.

GETTING SOMEWHERE: This Miami Herald story from Thursday precedes the release of the 911 tapes. Two witnesses - Austin McLendon, the 13 year old dog walker and Mary Cutcher heard one shot. From Ms. Cutcher:

“This was not self-defense,” Cutcher said. “We heard no fighting, no wrestling, no punching. We heard a boy crying. As soon as the shot went off, it stopped, which tells me it was the child crying. If it had been Zimmerman crying, it wouldn’t have stopped. If you’re hurting, you’re hurting.”

She and her friend say they heard the sounds from a few steps away, where they were inside beside an open window.

FWIW, the police say they spoke with her and now her story is changing as she speaks to the press.

Austin comes on the line [with the 911 dispatcher]: "I saw a man laying on the ground that needed help, that was screaming and then I was going to go over there to try and help him, but my dog got off the leash, so I went and got my dog, and then I heard a loud sound and then the screaming stopped."

The dispatcher asks: "Did you see the person shot? Did you know the person that was shot, or see the person with the gun?"

"No, I just heard a loud sound and then the screaming stopped," Austin replied.

The screaming stopped after the second shot, so how did he not hear the first while he was outside and nearby?

Let's hear from the chief of police:

“Mr. Zimmerman’s claim is that the confrontation was initiated by Trayvon,” Police Chief Bill Lee said in an interview. “I am not going into specifics of what led to the violent physical encounter witnessed by residents. All the physical evidence and testimony we have independent of what Mr. Zimmerman provides corroborates this claim to self-defense.”

To claim self-defense, someone has to show there was danger of great bodily harm or death, Lee said. “Zimmerman had injuries consistent with his story,” Lee said.

Zimmerman had a damp shirt, grass stains, a bloody nose and was bleeding from a wound in back of his head, according to police reports.

“If someone asks you, ‘Hey do you live here?’ is it OK for you to jump on them and beat the crap out of somebody?” Lee said. “It’s not.”

Was Zimmerman engaging in a bit of racial profiling when he started following the black teen? Was Martin engaging in a bit of profiling by feeling threatened by the large swarthy man?

I remain confident that if Zimmerman had not had a gun he would have stayed in his car and this would be a non-event. As to how the two of them interacted, I don't know, although I am sure Al Sharpton will explain it cogently.

MIAMI — It was raining the night of Feb. 26 when George Zimmerman, a crime watch volunteer, set out to patrol his neighborhood in his sport utility vehicle, as was his habit in recent weeks. Several break-ins had been reported in the area, and Mr. Zimmerman was especially alert.

He spotted a young black teenager wearing a sweatshirt, with the hood draped over his head. Mr. Zimmerman, a 28-year-old Hispanic man, trailed him a bit. Then he called 911, the first of seven calls from Mr. Zimmerman and panicked neighbors that begin to flesh out the details in the death of Trayvon Martin, 17, whom Mr. Zimmerman shot. The police released the recordings to local reporters late Friday night after nearly three weeks of pressure from Trayvon’s parents and their supporters.

The 911 calls from a gated community in Sanford, north of Orlando, culminate with a faint voice in the distance crying and pleading for help. A gunshot is heard, and then silence. Mr. Zimmerman told the police that he had shot Trayvon in self-defense, after the two got into a fight and Mr. Zimmerman wound up on the ground. There have been no arrests in the case. The unarmed teenager, who carried Skittles and a can of iced tea, was walking to the home of his father’s girlfriend from a convenience store.

Big Skip and:

It is not clear from the audio whether one or two shots was fired. And, with the voice muffled in the distance, it is difficult to know which of the two men is crying out for help.

Yesterday we heard two gunshots, today it's one. I can't wait for tomorrow, and crickets.

Here is one more for the Unanswered Questions file:

Trayvon had no criminal record. He was suspended from his Miami high school for 10 days in February, which is the reason he was visiting his father. The family said the suspension was not for violent or criminal behavior but for a violation of school policy.

I have no idea what school he attended, but for flavor, here is a Southwest Miami High School discipline plan. Fighting is an automatic ten-day suspension; repeated minor offenses such as smoking or dress code violations can result in a ten dayer.

Comments

I need some help. I refuse to use Pro-flowers anymore and need an alternative to send someone B-day flowers in Naples, Florida.

JiB or Clarice, Maybe you could help with someone locally?

Anyways, any help is appreciative. Thxs.

***************
Clarice:

Your last two articles were MasterPieces. I am sending copies to the same person the flowers are going to. Might prove ticklish since she voted for Obama and is working with his Education Dept. (Yikes, the flowers gotta be good. :) )

The clunker for me with Quayle was that he thought he had to prove he could lead. Unfortunately, being a leader doesn't mean saying "follow me." It means being able to put into words those things that matter to people so that they WANT to follow.

Plus DQ was the best golfer ever to even have an office in the WH. Played at DePauw. Was scratch and still is around a 3 handicap. Watched him play the Kemper Pro-Am when I was in DC. He could run with the big boys even then.

But IIRC the first salvo against DQ was his military service. He had joined and served honorably in the Indiana Army National Guard while attending Law School at Indiana U. The press, I think, made a big deal out of him avoiding Viet Nam due to his law school deferment or something like that.

Well stated sbw. I have no doubt Quayle was smart which is why the MFM worked it so hard to "prove" he was dumb. NPR really pushed that meme; a purportedly smart acquaintance or mine bought into their garbage completely. Being shackled with being associated with Poppy Bush didn't help him imo.

JiB: You have a good memory. They did try to make a big deal over his Guard service. Even though he'd been in the Senate, he really was an unknown to the national media at the time of his Veep selection and they'd already set their agenda for him in their minds as a lightweight, rich kid. Everyone was mad. DQ had not paid the proper dues, in their minds. Think of it as an earlier version of being Palinized by both the party elites and the media.

I was working K street (actually 15th and K) the last 2 years of Reagan and the 1st term of Bush 41 so I remember a lot of this. In fact, I knew DQ when he chaired the Council on Competitiveness because my Chairman and CEO were members. Not well mind you but enough to say hello.

I think I have told this before but I had the pleasure of doing a number of Bush 41 inauguration events including a lunch over at the Cannon Building in which I sat at the same table for 8 with Joan Rivers and Kevin Costner. Woot, woot! As DoT would say. Couldn't eat I was laughing so hard at Rivers.

Bush 41's campaign used the slogan "We are the Change" and I still have a campaign button to prove it. Nothing new in DC except the first Commie president. And that Post story Neo linked to is pure, unadulterated BS written for them by Axelrod/Plouffe Re-Eclection Fantasies and Blind Allegiance.

Good post by Daddy. Made me think ... he's restricting it to mass media BS fabricated stories, and I'm sure there's a few more well-known ones he's missed, but I can't think of them right now :^) Nonetheless it's great material for a longer essay or even a website on classic liberal hoaxes. A related subject would be the constant stream of hate crime hoaxes: different in that they are not perpetrated by media operatives, but similar in that they always skew left and always turn out to be BS.

JiB: No, he and Ann are both fluent in French. However, one of his sons served his mission in South America and is fluent in Spanish.

I posted this the other day, but I think it made a big impact on Puerto Ricans when their president said: Mitt Romney understands that English is the language of business, but Spanish is the language of our prayers with our children at night and in our churches.

"Those higher prices haven't derailed a steadily improving economy. But if they surpass $4 or $5 a gallon, experts fear Americans could pull back on spending, and job growth could stall, posing a potentially serious threat to the recovery.

And the longer prices remain high, the more they could imperil President Barack Obama's re-election hopes."

Thanks, Ann. I see JiB has answered your question. According to LI, Proflowers is again advertising on Rush, but I have no independent knowledge of that. They did say it was a "suspension" and they do keep sending me emails though I do keep unsubscribing and telling them why.

JiB thank God, we did not pull a DOOK! St Louie beat a pretty good Memphis squad, there were lots of Spartans telling me how we got screwed with Memphis at that point in the bracket so I fully expected it to be like the 3 Wisconsin matches this year ( we won all three but they were all close ). Bring on the Cardinals. Meanwhile Creigton up on UNC? WHOA

Obama lags behind Republican front-runner Mitt Romney in finding donors willing to give $2,000 or more — a surprising development for a sitting president, and one that could signal more worrisome financial problems heading into the general election. At this point in the last election cycle, Obama had received such large donations from more than 23,000 supporters, more than double the 11,000 who have given him that much this time. President George W. Bush had more than four times the number of big donations at this point in his reelection.

One thing I'll never forget about Quayle is that the terminally loopy Dan Rather insisted on being the only person in America to call him "J. Danforth Quayle," which he did throughout the campaign (It was Rather's way of hinting to us slow learners that Quayle was a cartoon-character version of a spoiled child of privilege.)

And to this day Rather believes he was an objective, unbiased "reporter."

They have gone after Ryan's SSI check, Susannah Martinez's grandparents immigration
status, Rubio's parents date of arrival in the states, Quayle's team, Kristol, Lord, (yes that Jeffrey Lord) led a rear guard action against Bush Sr.'s capitulation, on all fronts, to no avail. Now Dr. Evil, Miriam D'abo and the rest, really did dial it up to eleven, in their CYA brief, this is why my modest proposal, to dealing with them was half kidding, maybe some variation on the schemes in 'Heathers'

No Jane, you dont run around doing three to five and even fundraisers in a day unless you are desperate. He is a disappointment to the far left, and a miserable failure to less liberal Democrats. Unless he puts a prize in the box of crackerjacks, and sells the prize, they cant even pull in $2 a head. Bloom, rose seperated...

"We now know who the “alleged” shooter was in Afghanistan, killing 16 people including women and children. Army Staff Sergeant Robert Bales has now been transferred to the United States Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth Kansas. His alleged actions are horrible and disturbing, but not reflective of the professionalism, dedication, commitment, sacrifice, and service given by hundreds of thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines in Afghanistan and worldwide.

He will be held accountable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for his actions.

I ask America not to treat this Staff Sergeant any differently from Sergeant Hasan Akbar, who in 2003, threw hand grenades and fired his weapon into the tents of his Commanding Officers, killing several. He was not placed in pre-trial confinement in Fort Leavenworth and was tried at his home Army installation, Fort Campbell.

Then there is Army Major Malik Nadal Hassan, who still awaits trial after more than two years since he allegedly gunned down 43 Army soldiers and civilians killing 13 people. Hassan has not been sent to pre-trial confinement in Fort Leavenworth, and his attack has been officially termed “workplace violence.”

My point is this, let our leadership- not the media- determine the fate of Staff Sergeant Bales. Let us not offer him up as some type of “appeasement” to President Hamid Karzai, who would not be in his own position of power without the sacrifices of the American taxpayer as well as the American warrior. I want to see the military legal system work its own will and not the will of the political gods.

I am watching this case as a member of the House Armed Services Committee and a member of the subcommittee on Military Personnel. I am also a former Army soldier and I know what can happen when the public tries and convicts our men and women in uniform. "

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